Sept. 25: NHL Preseason Roundup

Johnny Gaudreau had three assists in his Columbus Blue Jackets debut, a 5-1 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins at Nationwide Arena in Columbus on Sunday.

Gaudreau, who signed a seven-year, $68.25 million contract ($9.75 million average annual value) with the Blue Jackets on July 13, assisted on goals 1:04 apart in the second period by Patrik Laine (8:03) and Jakub Voracek (9:07) that gave Columbus a 3-0 lead.
"It's going to take time to get used to playing with new players, but when you're playing with two players like that, it comes easy," Gaudreau said about Laine and Kent Johnson. "They're skilled players, they're smart players, and I thought we did a good job in the offensive zone. We] could tighten up a little defensively, but for the most part I thought we played in the O-zone most of the game. We looked good together."
Justin Danforth scored twice, Voracek had a goal and two assists and Elvis Merzlikins stopped all 20 shots he faced for the Blue Jackets in 39:42. Jet Greaves made 13 saves in the third period.
Jordan Frasca scored, and Dustin Tokarski made 27 saves for the Penguins, who won 3-2 in overtime at home against Columbus earlier Sunday in the first of two split-squad games.
Danforth gave the Blue Jackets a 1-0 lead at 7:15 of the first period.
Gustav Nyquist scored at 13:32 of the second to make it 4-0, but Frasca cut it to 4-1 at 8:09 of the third.
Danforth scored his second of the game with a power-play goal at 16:23 for the 5-1 final.
Penguins 3, Blue Jackets 2: Jason Zucker scored 1:58 into overtime to give the Pittsburgh Penguins a 3-2 win against the Columbus Blue Jackets at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh.
Zucker's goal gave the Penguins their only lead of the game. Pittsburgh tied it 2-2 when Corey Andonovski scored at 19:05 of the third period.
[James Neal
, a 35-year-old forward on a professional tryout contract with the Blue Jackets, scored and had six shots on goal in 19:14 of ice time. His goal four seconds into a power play gave Columbus a 1-0 lead when he took a pass from Jack Roslovic 3:25 into the second period, finishing a sequence behind Pittsburgh's net after goalie Casey DeSmith lost track of the puck.
Jon Lizotte
tied it 1-1 at 6:27 shortly after forcing a turnover in the neutral zone.
Nick Blankenburg scored the Blue Jackets' second power-play goal for a 2-1 lead at 12:27.
Filip Lindberg made 14 saves after replacing DeSmith (12 saves) midway through the period.
Pavel Cajan
made 12 saves, and
Nolan Lalonde
made 19 saves for the Blue Jackets. Lalonde's biggest save came with 8:47 remaining in the third period when he denied Zucker on a 2-on-none with Kasperi Kapanen.
It was the first preseason game for each team.

Flames 4, Canucks 0: Jonathan Huberdeau scored in his Calgary Flames debut, a 4-0 win against the Vancouver Canucks at Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary.
Huberdeau, who was acquired by the Flames in a trade with the Florida Panthers on July 22, gave Calgary a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 3:11 of the second period.
He signed an eight-year, $84 million contract with the Flames ($10.5 million AAV) on Aug. 4 that begins next season.
Mikael Backlund had two assists for Calgary. Dan Vladar stopped all 15 shots he faced through the first two periods, and Oscar Dansk made four saves in the third period.
Collin Delia started in goal for the Canucks and allowed three goals on 24 shots.
Michael Dipietro
made six saves in the third.
Cody Eakin
gave Calgary a 2-0 lead at 5:07 of the second, and Blake Coleman scored a power-play goal 6:50 later at 11:57 to make it 3-0.
Brett Sutter
scored a power-play goal with 14 seconds left for the 4-0 final.
Wild 3, Avalanche 2 (OT): Ryan Hartman scored 48 seconds into overtime, and the Minnesota Wild defeated the Colorado Avalanche 3-2 at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Hartman and Kirill Kaprizov each had a goal and an assist, and
Marco Rossi
had two assists for the Wild. Marc-Andre Fleury started and made 12 saves in 31:10.
Jesper Wallstedt
, the No. 20 pick in the 2021 NHL Draft, allowed two goals on 13 shots in his NHL preseason debut.
Spencer Smallman and
Shane Bowers
scored, and
Justus Annunen
made 33 saves for the Avalanche, the reigning Stanley Cup champions.
Kaprizov gave the Wild a 1-0 lead 5:24 into the second period but left late in the third when he hobbled to the bench after he took a shot off his ankle. He took his next shift and did not return but coach Dean Evason said after the game that the forward was fine. Kaprizov was fifth in the NHL with 108 points and tied Winnipeg Jets forward Kyle Connor for fifth with 47 goals last season.
Calen Addison
made it 2-0 at 17:27, beating Annunen from the point.
Smallman got the Avalanche within 2-1 on a breakaway at 3:32 of the third, and Bowers tied it 2-2 at 5:23.
It was the first preseason game for each team and a split-squad game for the Avalanche, who defeated the Vegas Golden Knights 3-1 in Denver later Sunday.

Sabres 4, Capitals 3 (OT): Vinnie Hinostroza scored 1:15 into overtime to give the Buffalo Sabres a 4-3 win against the Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena in Washington.
The Sabres forced overtime when Jack Quinn scored on the power play for Buffalo with 1:05 left in the third period.
Dylan Cozens and Tyson Kozak scored, and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 24 saves for the Sabres.
Anthony Mantha, Conor Sheary and Joe Snively scored for the Capitals.
Zach Fucale
started and made 15 saves, and
Hunter Shepard
made nine in relief.
It was the first preseason game for each team.
Mantha scored a power-play goal from the circle 4:05 into the first period to give Washington a 1-0 lead.
Cozens tied it 1-1 at 4:25 of the second before Buffalo took a 2-1 lead at 9:16 when Kozak scored on the rush as Washington's power play ended.
Sheary made it 2-2 on a feed from
Aliaksei Protas
26 seconds later.
Snively's goal at 5:43 of the third gave the Capitals a 3-2 lead.

Ducks 3, Coyotes 2: Isac Lundestrom had a goal and two assists for the Anaheim Ducks in a 3-2 win against the Arizona Coyotes at Tucson Convention Center in Tucson, Arizona.
Lundestrom assisted on goals by Pavol Regenda (15:57) and
Tristan Luneau
(18:54) in the first period, then scored a power-play goal at 15:44 of the second period to give the Ducks a 3-1 lead.
Luneau also had an assist, and
Rocco Grimaldi
had three assists for Anaheim in its first preseason game. Lukas Dostal made 18 saves.
Christian Fischer had a goal and an assist, and Liam O'Brien scored for the Coyotes. Karel Vejmelka started and allowed three goals on 18 shots.
Anson Thornton
made four saves in relief.
O'Brien gave Arizona a 1-0 lead at 7:13 of the first, and Fischer scored with 1:25 left in the third period for the 3-2 final.
Oilers 4, Jets 0: Stuart Skinner made 19 saves for the Edmonton Oilers in a 4-0 win against the Winnipeg Jets at Rogers Place in Edmonton in the first preseason game for each team.
Skinner, who is expected to be the backup for Jack Campbell in the regular season, made 12 saves in the first period and another seven in the second period before being relieved by Calvin Pickard at 14:27. Pickard made 10 saves.
Markus Niemelainen scored on Edmonton's first shot 41 seconds into the first period for a 1-0 lead.
James Hamblin
made it 2-0 at 10:22 of the third period. Ryan McLeod (14:24) and Dylan Holloway (14:51) scored 27 seconds apart for the 4-0 final.
David Rittich made 22 saves in Rick Bowness' debut as Jets coach.

Flames 3, Canucks 2 (OT):
Michael Stone
scored at 3:39 of overtime to lift the Calgary Flames to a 3-2 win against the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena in Vancouver.
It was the first preseason game for each team.
Ben Jones and Mitchell McLain each had a goal and an assist, and Dustin Wolf made 26 saves for Calgary.
Vasily Podkolzin and Conor Garland scored in the third period for Vancouver. Spencer Martin started in goal and made 23 saves through two periods. Arturs Silovs made 19 saves in relief.
McLain gave the Flames a 1-0 lead at 12:40 of the first period, and Jones made it 2-0 at 18:41 of the second period.
Podkolzin cut it to 2-1 at 8:07 of the third, and Garland scored with 1:31 remaining to tie it 2-2.
Canucks forward Ilya Mikheyev left the game at 4:17 of the second after a hit from Nicolas Meloche. Mikheyev agreed to a four-year contract with Vancouver on July 13. There was no update after the game.

Sharks 3, Kings 2 (OT): Logan Couture scored at 3:33 of overtime to give the San Jose Sharks a 3-2 win against the Los Angeles Kings at SAP Center in San Jose in the first preseason game for each team.
Timo Meier had a goal and an assist, and Tomas Hertl had two assists for the Sharks. Kaapo Kahkonen made 43 saves.
Carl Grundstrom had a goal and an assist for the Kings. Jonathan Quick allowed one goal on 18 shots in 33:11 before being relieved by
Matt Villalta
, who made 11 saves.
Luke Kunin gave San Jose a 1-0 lead at 6:25 of the first period, but Grundstrom tied it 1-1 59 seconds into the third period.
Meier put the Sharks back in front at 9:50 to make it 2-1, but Blake Lizotte scored at 17:25 to tie it 2-2.
Avalanche 3, Golden Knights 1: J.T. Compher's power-play goal at 13:11 of the third period broke a tie, and the Colorado Avalanche rallied for a 3-1 win against the Vegas Golden Knights at Ball Arena in Denver.
Alex Beaucage
also scored on the power play to tie it 1-1 59 seconds into the third for the Avalanche.
Alexandar Georgiev made his Colorado debut and allowed one goal on 13 shots in 29:44. Jonas Johansson made 10 saves in relief.
Paul Cotter scored for Vegas in its first preseason game. Michael Hutchinson started in goal and stopped all 13 shots he faced in 29:44. Jiri Patera allowed two goals on 16 shots in relief.
Cotter's power-plat goal gave the Golden Knights a 1-0 lead at 19:08 of the first period.
Bowen Byram scored an empty-net goal with 1:09 remaining for the 3-1 final.

NHL.com independent correspondent Craig Merz contributed to this report
Photo courtesy: Columbus Blue Jackets